Two quick and easy tips to increase your credit!

Here are some simple ways to clean up your credit quickly. I am not talking about longer-term things like paying your bills on time. I am talking about if you are thinking about getting a mortgage in the next six months and want to get the best interest rate possible by bumping up your credit score. I have used these tips myself and they work no matter your current credit score.

1. Get your free credit report. This one is obvious but you need to do it to determine what, if any, negative items are on your credit report. Often times there may be an outstanding bill you never paid or something that is just plain wrong and you need to take care of those.

2. Start paying down credit cards twice per month. One big factor in your credit score is the reported balance on your credit cards each month as compared to your total available credit. When you pay down your balance before the balance is reported, then the balance reported is very low. This helps your credit score. Let's say you normally spend $1000 on your credit card each month. If you pay $800 before the end of your billing cycle, only $200 will get reported as your balance. This really does help!